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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Canon Lens Set

The iris on the Canon lenses cannot be "de-clicked". The stops are broken down into 1/3rd increments, which are noticeable when stop up or down. So you really can't pull iris with them.

Again, for narrative -- most people will find it best to spend another $10K and get a PL mount RED set or set of Zeiss standard speeds or zoom/prime combo or, etc. etc.

But...you can film a feature on Canon still lenses and get excellent results provided you have an open minded Director, DP and 1st AC (that won't ask for iris pulls and that understand you can't shoot 18mm faster than 2.8).
 
If you're really interested in using Canon lenses on feature films talk to Stephen Pruitt; he's doing his 2nd feature on them right now--a 2 camera shoot I think. My impression is that the lenses/Birger mount/Impero FF have worked very, very well.
 
re: lens motor noise. I have a pretty large hunch that the Sigma lens would still be quieter than a Bartech or Preston--in other words, fine for our purposes. If I'm not mistaken, the Sigma 20mm covers full frame while the Sigma 30mm only covers the smaller APc size (it is an EPs type lens). Both are supposed to be pretty good. I have no idea how they cut with the Canon lenses.
 
paul engstrom said:
If you're really interested in using Canon lenses on feature films talk to Stephen Pruitt; he's doing his 2nd feature on them right now--a 2 camera shoot I think. My impression is that the lenses/Birger mount/Impero FF have worked very, very well.
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I have shot an entire feature film on my RED with Nikons, and it's manageable. But at least those Nikons were all manual. Electronic irises and free spinning focus wheels just feel sketchy to me on a zero compromise digital cinema camera. I don't know. I do admire that Stephen is producing awesome content with them. I'm sure this is a great alternative for a lot of people out there.
 
My guess is there will be programmable hard stops with the REDMOTE Pro and RED Canon Mount, this feature already comes with the Impero/ Birger combo. With the Impero the focus throw is 360°, 720° or 1440°.
 
They are about as heavy as Master Primes. But I wouldn't worry about that if you plan to use them with Epic.

The only thing to keep in mind is that you will need to balance it out with something in the back for shoulder work. That won't be hard at all.

They will be heavy for long takes hand held a'la DSLR, but I think still very manageable for those shots if you feel the need.
 
paul engstrom said:
the 17-55 is a very, very good lens with Image Stabilization and exceptional, L level optics. You could shoot an entire film on that lens.
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100% agree. At $1k, prolly best bang for the buck out there (well, maybe besides the $99 1.8). The only thing I'm not crazy about is the bokeh (see attached). And of course, it's pretty annoying that it doesn't fit on my FF camera.

Paul Leeming said:
One note as a previous owner of the beautiful EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens: it is optically gorgeous but the zoom mechanics do leave something to be desired when used on a Red.
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How so? You mean the barrel sticking out getting in the way of a matte box?
 

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A little off topic here, but can anyone tell me what it would cost by buy a Master Prime 14mm or 12mm?
 
a Master Prime costs from 20k to 30k a lens, somewhere in between there. It's on the Abel site for certain lenses. The 12 and 14 mm should be closer to 30k.
 
Sorry, another slightly off topic question: will the 12mm Master Prime cover the Epic X's sensor?
 
Tom Lowe said:
Sorry, another slightly off topic question: will the 12mm Master Prime cover the Epic X's sensor?
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educated guess, i know for a fact all the master primes 16 mm and up cover epics 30 mm sensor, and an ultra prime 10 mm covers it too (31 mm) so I see no reason why a 12 mm master prime wouldn't cover it...
 
http://web.me.com/ducloslenses/DataRef/ImgCir.html

doesn't have the 12 mm, but again, if all the ultra primes even at 10 mm cover it, and every other Master prime covers it, i see no reason why the 12 mm MP won't. it won't exactly be much of a matched set...
 
Hhhmmm. Seems like something worth looking into. I think Pawel has said that the 14mm MP will cover Epic X. One thing about Epic X to consider is that it can overcrank to 96 - 120 at full res, so the need for ultra-wide lenses is not as great as it is for the Red One. Right now, if you want to overcrank the Red One to 3K, for example, you need a super wide lens to get a wide lens effect. Not so with the Epic X. Perhaps a 14mm MP would do.

But I still find myself in this position where it seems like the best bet is to have both EF and PL mounts on hand. I just hope the process to switch them is easy.
 
well there are plenty of optics that will be wide, and sharp for your needs, EF or PL otherwise. but the real question is, how important is that t1.3? that would be the reason for getting a MP IMHO.
 
Exactly. There are fast, high-quality lenses available for Canon and Nikon mounts from 24mm up (although there is some coma on the new Canon 24mm 1.4 Maybe the Nikon 24 1.4 is better?). For me, the lens I would really be missing from a Canon/Epic kit would be one wide, fast lens, thus my interest in the 12mm or 14mm Master Primes.

This is probably going to sound crazy, but I wonder if it would be worthwhile to consider having a 12mm MP converted to Canon EF mount?? The lens would obviously only work as a manual lens, but then I could also use the 12mm MP on my Canon DSLR cameras for astro timelapse! One concern I would have, though, is that the EF mount is very flimsy and the MPs are very heavy. I don't know if the 5D2 body (or an Epic X with Canon mount) would even support a Master Prime without rod support?
 
Alexander Christ said:
Tech Specs: http://www.red.com/products/lenses
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Thanks Alexander. Holy crap, 6.45 lbs for the 18mm RPP? That really is huge.

Roberto Lequeux said:
They are about as heavy as Master Primes. But I wouldn't worry about that if you plan to use them with Epic.
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An 18mm Master Prime only weighs 4.85 lbs. Robert, I agree that the extra weight will be less problematic on the Epic, but even though the Epic brain is half the weight of the RED ONE body (5 lbs vs. 10), that still only shaves 5 lbs off the overall weight of a complete kit.

This size question takes the discussion in a new direction for me. The RED Pro 17-50mm f2.8 weighs less than half of the 18mm at 3.2 lbs. So for $6000 you can cover all your wide to medium focal lengths with a professional, light weight PL lens. This seems like a totally decent kit:

RED 17-50mm f2.9______$6000
RED PP 85mm f1.8______$4250

The obvious compromises being the slower f-stop in the wides and the lack of coverage in the extreme wide and telephoto. But the package could eventually be supplemented with something like this:

Duclos 11-16 f2.8_______$3500
RED 17-50 f2.9_________$6000
RED PP 85mm f1.8______$4250
RED PP 100mm f1.8_____$4250
TOTAL________________$18,000

So for $1000 less than the 25-100 RPP set, you get full PL coverage from 11-100mm with lightweight cinema lenses. The only drawback, again, is the slower f-stops in the wides. But that sounds like much less of a compromise than the Canon route.
 
Add the 25mm RPP.

The 25 is one of the best RPPs, and it will be pretty wide at 5k! You can get quite a bit of usage beyond just long shots out of it. Medium shots work well at 25mm, and you can always crop into the 5k image and get pretty nice loose CUs if you absolutely needed the light and want to avoid the wide angle look. 0.02
 
Roberto Lequeux said:
Add the 25mm RPP and you are set. And it is one of the best RPPs. It will be pretty wide for 5k, and you can still get quite a bit of usage beyond just long shots. Medium shots would work very well. And you can always crop in with a 5k image and get pretty nice loose CUs. 0.02
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What would be the advantage of the 25mm RPP besides the extra stop? The 25mm is twice the weight so that doesn't help.
 
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